Timothy Zahn (born September 1, 1951) is an American writer of science fiction and fantasy. He is known for the Thrawn series of Star Wars novels, and has published several other series of science fiction and fantasy novels, in addition to much short fiction.

LucasFilm at times referred to some of the more detailed Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game supplements from West End Games, and when Timothy Zahn started work on a new trilogy of Star Wars books, boxes of West End sourcebooks were delivered to him.[2]:191 At the time, Zahn was writing what would become known as the "Thrawn Trilogy", the first book of which was Heir to the Empire (1991).[2]:193 In turn, West End released sourcebooks for Zahn's three novels from 1992-1994.[2]:193

The Thrawn trilogy marked a revival in the fortunes of the Star Wars franchise, bringing it widespread attention for the first time in years; all three Thrawn-trilogy novels made the New York Times best-seller lists,[3] and set the stage and tone for most of the franchise's Expanded-Universe content.[4] Zahn also wrote the young adult Dragonback series and the popular Conquerors' Trilogy.

The three Cobra trilogies are an ongoing series of adventure novels set in a space opera future where "Cobras", augmented supersoldiers, defend colony worlds from the overbearing Dominion of Man and from the alien Troft. Reviewing the eighth novel in 2015, Liz Bourke of Tor.com noted that Zahn's 1980s worldbuilding – with dated technology and prevalent sexism – had not aged well, but appreciated the novels as a "rollicking fast-paced adventure story" with "solid, believable characters and entertaining action".[5]

Cobra trilogy

Cobra (1985)

Cobra Strike (1986)

Cobra Bargain (1988)

The first two books were also released in one compilation called Cobras Two in 1992. A complete compilation was released as the Cobra Trilogy in 2004.